Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Georgia became a key destination for Russian migrants, who significantly influenced the local housing market. This article explores the impact of the influx of Russian migrants into Tbilisi, which caused a surge in rental prices and aroused feelings of social insecurity among Georgian citizens. Using qualitative methods, including social media analysis and semi-structured interviews, the study investigates the emergence of “informal sanctions” imposed by Georgian Airbnb and Booking.com hosts as a means of expressing political dissatisfaction with their own government and protecting national interests. This article identifies four patterns of informal sanctions, such as rejecting, discomforting, avoiding, and exploiting Russian tenants, which reflect a form of patriotism from below. We argue that these spontaneous, everyday practices of resistance lead to the politicization of mundane host-tenant relations and the collective stereotyping of a migrant group in a time of insecurity. The theoretical proposition here is that everyday nationalism is closely related to informality, which opens the possibility of examining grassroots responses to perceived threats and tactics of resistance, with implications for broader social dynamics in times of ongoing geopolitical conflict and wartime migration in Eastern Europe.

In recognition of the impact of current dietary patterns on human and environmental health, dietary shifts towards sustainable diets are considered crucial to adequately feed a growing global population within planetary boundaries. Whilst the composition of sustainable diets varies to account for regional specificity, consensus exists on the need to reduce meat and increase plant protein intakes in sustainable dietary patterns for high-income settings. Due to the high environmental impact resulting from meat production and observational evidence of higher risks of negatives health outcomes associated with excess red and processed meat, a reduction in meat consumption is considered a ‘win-win’ for both people and the planet. However, meat is an important contributor to dietary protein and micronutrient intakes and plays an important sociocultural role, particularly in the UK and Ireland. Whilst a strong evidence-base exists on the environmental and health benefits associated with increased consumption of whole plant foods such as legumes, nuts and seeds, these foods may not address the barriers associated with lower meat diets. Plant-based meat alternatives (PBMAs) are products created to replicate the taste, texture, appearance and functionality of meat and therefore may provide an acceptable means of facilitating the shift to healthy and more sustainable diets. However, less is known about the health and environmental impact of substituting meat with PBMAs. Therefore, this review summarises the literature on the nutritional, health and environmental impact of PBMAs to better understand the role of these products in healthy and sustainable diets for the UK and Ireland.

Human beings are a highly social species, and there are neural systems that have a role in enabling human beings to function as the social animals they are. They connect people into smaller or larger social groups; and at least some of these groups have a unity that lets the united human beings function as one. That this is so has implications for an array of philosophical and theological issues, including the notion of a people, the concomitant notions of a people’s communal guilt and communal shame, the notion of the church as the body of Christ, the understanding of human perfection as a likeness to a triune God, and many other such issues. What is required to elucidate these issues is a metaphysics that can explain the nature of a united something-or-other that includes human persons as constituents. This article explores these issues and outlines the nature of the needed metaphysics.

Macroscopic, modular, morphologically simple skeletons occur in the uppermost Mural Formation (Cambrian, Epoch 2, Bonnia–Olenellus Biozone), west-central Alberta and adjacent east-central British Columbia. They represent organisms that lived almost exclusively in reefal environments dominated by archaeocyaths. Some were attached to archaeocyaths or less commonly other surfaces, and some grew downward, apparently from overhangs or cavities in reefs. Qualitative and quantitative data from a large number of specimens, most of which were serially thin sectioned, indicate that they represent a single, remarkably variable species. The skeletal structure ranges among specimens from entirely cerioid to partially to entirely labyrinthine with irregularly incomplete walls. There is also a wide range of variability in growth form among skeletons, in module size and wall thickness among and within skeletons, in module shape within skeletons, and in number and location of projections extending from the wall into some modules. Module increase occurred by peripheral expansion at the basal surface of the skeleton and longitudinal fission involving projections from the wall as module size increased during vertical growth. Walls of skeletons, now composed of calcite cement, were probably originally aragonite. Modular skeletons from the uppermost Mural Formation are assigned to Rosellatana jamesi Kobluk, 1984a, previously represented only by a few cerioid specimens from correlative strata in the Rosella Formation of north-central British Columbia. The skeletal structure and types of module increase in R. jamesi, and a few similar but less well-known Cambrian taxa from elsewhere in North America, suggest a general biologic affinity with hypercalcified sponges.

‘Positional goods’, a term coined by Fred Hirsch, is an important concept in economics, social sciences and philosophy; however, it is used in different ways. This paper recovers Hirsch’s concept of positional goods as scarce goods that are fixed or near-fixed in supply and argues for the usefulness of this concept. Hirsch’s concept may have explanatory power beyond the concept used by most economists – that of Robert Frank. Moreover, Hirsch’s concept is more explanatorily basic and useful than the concept used by most philosophers – that of Brighouse and Swift.

This study explores whether DNA methylation (DNAm) mediates the association between lean body mass (LBM) and cognition, as well as whether LBM mediates the association between DNAm and cognition. Based on the data of 59 monozygotic twin pairs, mediation analyses were performed using causal inference test method and mediation analyses. Average causal mediation effect (ACME), average direct effect (ADE), and total effect (TE) were calculated. Among the CpGs associated with LBM, five located within PDGFRB and RP11 genes (ACME: −0.0972−0.0463, |ACME/ADE|: 10.44%−18.30%) negatively mediated the association between LBM and cognition, while one in the PAX2 gene (ACME: 0.3510, |ACME/TE|: 11.84%) positively mediated the association. Besides, the methylation risk score (MRS) of RP11 gene (ACME: −0.0517, |ACME/ADE|: 10.64%) and MRS of all CpGs (ACME: −0.0511, |ACME/ADE|: 10.53%) negatively mediated the association of LBM with cognition. For another, LBM negatively mediated the association between the DNAm level of one CpG within UBXN6 and cognition (ACME: −0.0732, |ACME/TE|: 20.78%), while positively mediated the association between the DNAm level of four CpGs within FOXI2 and cognition (ACME: 0.2812−0.4496, |ACME/TE|: 18.15%−27.29%). It was found the DNAm in PDGFRB, RP11 and PAX2 partially mediates the association between LBM and cognition, and the association between DNAm in UBXN6 and FOXI2 with cognition is also partially mediated by LBM.

This paper revisits the relationship between tax evasion and tax rates in a heterogeneous-agent, incomplete-markets model. Extending the foundational works of Allingham and Sandmo (1972) and Yitzhaki (1974), we explore how financially constrained households use tax evasion to mitigate the adverse effects of market imperfections. We show that deterrence policies, such as audit probabilities and penalties, exacerbate the effects of borrowing constraints. Importantly, increasing income tax rates can sometimes alleviate these negative impacts when individuals evade taxes. We identify three mechanisms shaping underreporting: the direct effect, the threshold effect, and the income effect. These help explain when and why the Yitzhaki puzzle arises. Numerical results reveal a non-monotonic relationship between tax rates and underreporting, underscoring the relative strength of these effects and offering fresh insights into the Yitzhaki puzzle.

Gel’fand–Dorfman algebras (GD algebras) give a natural construction of Lie conformal algebras and are in turn characterized by this construction. In this article, we define the Gel’fand–Dorfman bialgebra (GD bialgebra) and enrich the above construction to a construction of Lie conformal bialgebras by GD bialgebras. As a special case, Novikov bialgebras yield Lie conformal bialgebras. We further introduce the notion of the Gel’fand–Dorfman Yang–Baxter equation (GDYBE), whose skew-symmetric solutions produce GD bialgebras. Moreover, the notions of $\mathcal {O}$-operators on GD algebras and pre-Gel’fand–Dorfman algebras (pre-GD algebras) are introduced to provide skew-symmetric solutions of the GDYBE. The relationships between these notions for GD algebras and the corresponding ones for Lie conformal algebras are given. In particular, there is a natural construction of Lie conformal bialgebras from pre-GD algebras. Finally, GD bialgebras are characterized by certain matched pairs and Manin triples of GD algebras.

During nematode surveys conducted to investigate the biodiversity of plant-parasitic nematodes in Mediterranean olive groves with different management strategies (organic and conventional), a nematode population of the genus Neothada was detected in southern Spain. Application of integrative taxonomical approaches clearly demonstrated that it is a new species described herein as Neothada olearum sp. nov., also representing the first report of the genus in Spain. The new species is amphimictic, characterised by a short body (563–774 μm); cuticle widely annulated (2.5–3.0 μm); total number of body annuli 214–226; 16 longitudinal ridges giving a tessellate body surface; stylet without distinct basal knobs (9.0–11.0 μm); and tail elongate-conoid, with tip bluntly rounded. The results of molecular analysis of D2-D3 28S rRNA, ITS rRNA, partial 18S rRNA, and cytochrome oxidase c subunit 1 (COI) gene sequences support for the new species status and clearly separated from N. major and other species within Neothada. Phylogenetic analyses of ribosomal and mitochondrial markers of this study suggested that Neothada is a monophyletic genus, clearly separated from Thada.

To mitigate the risk of harm to themselves or others, people with mental disorders may require compulsory admission to hospital for in-patient treatment. In England and Wales this is authorised under the Mental Health Act 1983 (MHA). Patients have the right to appeal against this involuntary detention at a hearing before the First-tier Tribunal (Health Education and Social Care Chamber) Mental Health, and psychiatrists may be called on to provide written and oral evidence to the tribunal. The purpose of this article is to help psychiatrists, particularly trainees, understand the sections of the MHA involved, the patient’s right of appeal, the role of the tribunal, their own role as a professional witness, and how to improve the quality of evidence they provide.

How do authoritarian actors navigate the liberal international order, adopting democratic facades without committing to democratic principles? And why is it so difficult for the international normative system to debunk their pretence when it comes to the use of democratic values? This paper explores this question by introducing ‘profilicity’ and ‘performativity’ as key concepts to understand how autocratic regimes build powerful profiles within a liberal system that values authenticity. Unlike conventional theories, which assume that engagement with liberal norms requires genuine commitment, profilicity reveals that strategic image-building can be just as effective. Through this lens, we see how autocracies exploit liberalism’s own ideals, using performative adaptation to secure status and reshape norms. This paper suggests that the liberal order’s emphasis on sincerity may itself be a strategic weakness, one that autocratic actors skilfully navigate in a world increasingly driven by profiles over principles.

Associational life in Cape Town is a mechanism for migrants from the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to find belonging in South Africa. We trace the internal politics of associational membership from 2000 to 2019 to illustrate how membership in eastern Congolese associations has minimized community ties to other foreign Africans and South Africans. An increase in election violence in the DRC, divided into pro- and anti-combattant camps, and the threat of xenophobic violence in South Africa have led to a closing of ranks that presumes only other eastern Congolese can be trusted. In tracing gender, class and language cleavages, we find that eastern DRC associational life reproduces the xenophobia associational membership is intended to ameliorate.

Microbiomes are communities of microorganisms that form close associations with metazoan hosts and have important roles in host biological processes. With the advent of Next Generation Sequencing, the microbiomes of myriad animals and plants have been described. However, the microbiomes of parasites have received little attention, which is surprising considering their ecological and medical importance. This study characterizes, for the first time, the microbiome of Dujardinascaris helicina, a gastrointestinal nematode parasite of the American crocodile. Dujardinascaris helicina were isolated from crocodiles residing in two geographically separated habitats across Belize. Using 16S sequencing, we compare β-diversity between sampling locations using generalized linear mixed modeling. Our results show that D. helicina microbiomes differ in composition depending on location. We also show that D. helicina microbiomes show strong shifts toward consolidation of specific taxa when proximity to human modified environments increases.